Umami Mart

Pho ga dac biet is a special chicken noodle soup at Ao Sen, my favorite pho joint in the East Bay. They serve boiled chicken on the side, bone-in and skin-on, with a florescent orange ginger sauce. It is comforting when you are sick, and warming on dreary rain-filled days. The new Ao Sen location in […]

“To live and eat in LA, it’s the place to be; You’ve got to be there to know it, what everybody wanna eat” – Tupac Alright, alright, Tupac didn’t say “eat”. But instead of talking about hoes and tricks, he should have rapped more importantly about the bounty of food to be found in LA. […]

People often ask me, “Why did you leave NYC?” It’s true, I just sorta packed my bags and ditched my glamorous job, my wonderful friends, my comfortable routine, and the GREATEST! CITY! IN! THE! WORLD! (at least the greatest metro system in the world). All for what? I’ll tell you what. The Three Major Food […]

PREFACE Lost in Luang Prabang Our honeymoon was broken up into three different parts split between three countries, and two climates. Northern Vietnam was meant to be the adventurous leg of it. Hanoi is loud. Damn loud. Instead of using turn signals, cars honk to indicate their next move. Not many traffic lights, only massive […]

One of my obsessions since moving to Berkeley is to find good Vietnamese food in the East Bay. I made my rounds in Downtown Berkeley with no luck whatsoever. Establishments including Pho Hoa, Saigon Express and Le Regal shamelessly use powdered broth as their soup base (at least it tastes like it) leaving my mouth […]

Let’s talk today on the subject of one of my favorite foods in the world: pho. But this is not just any kind of pho. I’m talkin’ FRIED PHO. No joke, I crave this every single day and have been dying to share this discovery with you. It’s my ideal debut post for this sparkling […]

This is dedicated to You Cannot Be Serious, aka Jenny C. Finally, ehem, FINALLY, made it out to the famed Turtle Tower last week for a quick city pho stop. I had an interview to get to down in San Jose, so I was in a hurry, and there’s nothing quicker and deliciouser than a […]

Tmonkey once cooked with Michael Bao (of Bao 111, Mai Noodle Shop, etc.), so he knows a thing or two about Vietnamese food. So when he says where to go for the best pho in the city, you follow. You know how there’s 3 Vietnamese restaurants in a row on Baxter in Chinatown (and you […]

With such a ramen frenzy going on in New York right now (a cute little “guide to ramen” column in Time Out this week; buzz on Eater about yet another Hakata-style rameneria opening in Greenpoint in the fall; the ramen war that Setagaya ignited with Momofuku before they opened a couple months back, etc), I […]